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Sunday, May 22, 2016

Cuti-Cuti Malaysia - Sekinchan

It was a lazy Saturday morning where me and some primary school mates embarked on a roadtrip to Sekinchan. We have been planning this 2 months ahead and toying with the idea of a local gateway for our Cuti-Cuti Malaysia trip. Lush fields of greenery and clear blue skies greeted us on a beautiful Saturday morning with the sun shinning brightly. It is a great day for photography at the paddy fields. The trip to Sekinchan was about an hour plus from our place in Petaling Jaya. The ride was fun as we killed time catching up on the good old days and listening to some beautiful Korean music on the way there.

The above picture with clear blue skies were taken from Day 2 at 8.00am versus the following photos taken when we arrived at Sekinchan by 10.30am. Such a huge contrast!

So the moral of the story is that if you want clear blue skies and super green fields, take your shots between 8am - 9am. The skies do not look that blue after 10 plus.

A closer look at the "paddy"

The crops are green and in some areas they are turning slightly yellow in time for harvest.

Our first stop was at Ah Ma House. Address and contact details are at the end of this blogpost. Don't forget to see the well planned itinerary at the end of this blogpost.

A windmill greeted us at the main entrance of Ah Ma House. Perfect for photo taking. If you notice that small hut at the side of the windmill, it actually holds a chain of padlocks.Ah Ma House is set in a vintage looking ambience with lots of traditional items dated back from my childhood. Old cushion sofas, rattan chairs and tables, old Glass cupboards, old TV set....etc I felt that I was transported back in time...back to the 70's.

On display were even old phones and I mean really old ones where you can whack someone hard in the head (as big as a water tumbler)

A vintage sewing machine and old cameras on display

Misc Vintage items. Some I have seen and used during my grandmother and great grandmother's time.

How lovely! A Vespa made from rattan. You don't see these things often.

I jumped in joy when I saw my childhood sweets sold there. This brought back memories.

Local ice cream. Looks like Asam Boi Flavour. I tak beli to try.

We hired this Vintage Limo to take us on a tour around the paddy fields.

It only cost RM5 per person.

Belakang can fit dua orang.

As we passed the street a white Limo passed by. Hello there! We waved.

We passed by this much raved about container hotel which we wanted to stay but it was fully booked even 2-3 months ahead. So take photo only lor....buat kenangan.

Our friendly driver brought us on a 20 minute merry-go-round tour along the banks of the paddy fields and allowing is to stop at the best spots for photo opportunity.

He was very patient and accommodating and even helped us take a group shot.

Here's a look at some shots that I took while circling the paddy fields.

Green Green Grass of Home

In case you didn't know this is a Kunci air (literal translation water key)

It controls the main flow of water for the crops.

After a smooth ride back to Ah Ma House we bought some crackers and items and headed off to our hotel.

At the front desk do take note on the name cards on display at the right corner. Ada tempat makan best that is recommended. If that is not enough, the Hotel was so considerate in providing and making sure you can find some good eats around. We were given a simplified map of Sekinchan and a list of restaurants with QR Codes that when you can it will lead you straight to the restaurant via waze. There is also a summary of what famous dishes to order at specific restaurants. I was truly amazed at their level of service. How thoughtful.

I love the lobby. At the front desk you can see a half body of a Volksvagen that compliments the interior so well. That piece is the centre of attraction of the whole lobby. It is also surrounded by Vintage paintings and I must say the whole ambience was amazing. Great for photography.

Here's a look at the rooms. It is clean and simple. We manage to fit three in a room.

What was the deciding factor that we chose this hotel? My gf did some research and found that they have a really nice garden at the rooftop of this hotel. Since we love photography, we thought this is the perfect place to shoot. Here's a virtual tour of the garden rooftop which is only accessible to guests of this hotel (cause a key card is required when you travel up the lift)

More details on the A Plus Hotel here. It is located at a very strategic location and next to the Police Station and facing the main road. You won't miss it!

Remember the QR Code list? Well here's some of the recommended restaurants from the list.

We finally settled for this Restaurant Bagan Sekinchan for dinner.

Pantai Redang and its wishing tree.

What you see hanging here are all wishes of people who prayed at the temple and made a wish.

Here's how I did it. With just one try, my red wishing ornament was successfully secured on one of the branches of this wishing tree. Hopefully my wish will come true. What did I wish for? Hehehe it's a secret la.....If tell already may not materialize.

So after making our wishes, we continued to jalan-jalan until we stumbled upon this Coca-Cola container which we thought looked interesting. Photo time again!

We noticed a stairway that leads all the way up to the roof top of the container. We found our " hidden treasure" in the form of a rewarding ice-cool ice cream parlour!

Besides eating ice cream, we also had a spectacular view from the top of the Coke container.

At the beach during sunset

It's not every other day I get to enjoy and view sunset by the beach.

I truly treasure this moment.

This Pantai Redang is very popular among the locals and tourists alike, Check out the crowd.

Sea shells on the sandy beach

A sight to behold

A cute little doggie I spotted at the beach

How innovative! Chairs made to become swings hanging from the trees.

Aunties seen here leisurely reading and enjoying themselves sitting on these chair swings.

Fishing Village

Bagan Sekinchan is the main fishing village in Sekinchan. Look at the serene, quiet and peaceful view of these shots. Ahhhhhhhh......How relaxing and calm it is. Enjoy the stress free moment.

As we were walking down some alley fishball hunting, we saw another pretty sight.

Buying Fishball and Yong Tau Foo

Drying items in the sun

Foo Chuck drying in the sun

Right across the road we started our "aunty/see lai" shopping session. We bought some fish balls and foo chuck there. Har mai is also a good buy in Sekinchan.

Fish Hunting at Bagan Sekinchan.

We went to the town area and noticed one particular shop selling fishes of all kinds.

I bought some sek pan fish home for mom and some prawns and they were super fresh!

Day 2 Breakfast

Our adventure
started on day 2 where we went and hunt for food and got lost in the
sawah padi maze and going in circles. Finally we found the Riri Fatt
Coffee Shop which is just a stone's throw away from our hotel. In fact
it's just across the main road.

Pumpkin Pan Mee Riri Fatt. Riri Fatt

This was pretty unique. It's not every other day you find Pan Mee made of pumpkin.

After breakfast we went back to our hotel to shower and rested till 12.30pm before checking out. Time to hunt for food again. This time for lunch. But along the way, we got lost again. Waze brought us deep into the hutan kelapa sawit. We stopped and spotted some cows crossing and wazed ourselves out again. Luckily this time the coffee shop that we have been looking for showed up in waze. We were heading towards Kedai Kopi Shin lok in Jeram where their wu kok and pau is super famous.

Lost in the woods

Finally it was reward time but we had to wait like almost half an hour for the wu kok and pau from this famous place.

The wu kok is served fresh and demand for both the pau and wu kok was so great that customers had to wait and line up for half an hour.

Overall we had a great time although we got lost twice.

Here's our itinerary to share with you. Hope you'll find this useful.

Credits goes to my girlfriend, Woon Ida for making this remarkable itinerary plan for us.

We did not manage to cover Kuala Selangor for the fire flies due to the distance and weather. Till then and happy planning for your trip to Sekinchan. I hope you find this blogpost useful. Oh! Bring your own icebox to ferry the fresh fish home. It's a must buy!